IIRC, Intel Matrix drivers DONT support trim. This means that even though you are in AHCI mode ( I assume since you are not running a RAID) your SSD will degrade. I would either setup the manual trim option in the Intel toolbox....or swap over to MS AHCI drivers and get TRIM!

Hello everyone
I don't completely understand all of this and am struggling with the new info. I recently got some info regarding my Intel X25-M 80gb. SSD. I've been using the Windows AHCI driver because It was suggested by some on this site and others that it was better. The Intel driver apparently didn't pass the trim command to the OS. I now have some new info (new to me anyway) that says Intel's new driver corrects all of this? Could someone please give me an opinion on which driver I should use.

Hi GMJim, the newest released version does indeed pass the TRIM command. It will not pass it to raid'ed SSDs, BUT will to a single SSD even if their is RAID of HDDs on the system (there was an error in its reporting where it would show it passing it to Raid'ed SSDs. It does not. Just to non raided SSDs. In previous versions it would NOT pass the trim command if you had a raid of HDDs on the system even if you only had one SSD attached). Some peeps have gotten a moderate speed boost from using it compared to MS drivers. Easy enough way to check. Run Crystal DiskMark. AS SSD or another similar benchmark. Keep the results. Swap over to the new Intel ones. Rerun the benchmark. See if they improve. You should notice a minor improvement. It wont be earth shattering (or at least SHOULDN'T be) but every bit helps :)

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"If you ever start taking things too seriously, just remember that we are talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through the universe." -JR

“if your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi. But if you enemy has no conscience, like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer.” - Dr. MLK jr

Thanks everyone. I'm not really into benchmarking but I do want the system to run well. I just want to settle on a driver that I can rely on and not worry about maintenance. Do you think I'll have to use the toolbox even if I have this new driver?
Jim

IF you run a ASHCI drive which can pass the trim command (like the latest Intel or default MS one) then there is no "need" to use the SSDToolbox. Couple nifty features in it, but to me the toolbox is mainly for peeps running older an OS that need to setup a manual trim (aka "optimizer") schedule. ;)

__________________
"If you ever start taking things too seriously, just remember that we are talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through the universe." -JR

“if your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi. But if you enemy has no conscience, like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer.” - Dr. MLK jr

Well thanks again AKG. So I should be using the new Intel RST V9.6.0.10.1014 rather than the Win7 MS driver. Sometimes I think I should just stick to mainstream hardware but then I wouldn't learn anything!